"We're talking about two-thirds of Provo's population that don't subscribe to iProvo, and yet now we're going to in a very real sense of the word, use government monopolistic power to get two-thirds of the people to pay for something one-third of the population uses?" he said. "How are you going to sell that to the public?"

Royce Van Tassell, vice president of the Utah Taxpayers Association, said he thinks privatization is still the city's best option.

"Provo needs to take this albatross off the back of taxpayers and sell it to the private sector," he said.

Billings said none of these options is set in stone. He also said there have been offers to buy iProvo but declined to give further details, citing nondisclosure agreements.

"There have been offers," he said. "But those offers haven't come to a place to harvest."

Billings also said anyone with questions, comments or recommendations can forward those to Kat Linford at klinford@provo.utah.gov.

"Everybody ... stay tuned," he said.

A video of the telecom board meeting will be available online at www.provo.org. The meeting will also be broadcast on Provo's Channel 17 over the next two weeks.

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E-mail: jdana@desnews.com